Co-creating to improve SME access to funding opportunities
Stakeholders from Umbria’s SME support ecosystem and some SMEs met to participate in a co-creation workshop. The goal was to identify weaknesses in access to funding opportunities by the region’s SMEs, and brainstorming ways to address those weaknesses. The morning’s work was based on the co-creation methodology prepared by the University of Latvia, InnoCom's Advisory Partner, and started from a presentation of a SWOT analysis and some key findings from the survey of SMEs conducted by partners.
The meeting was hosted at the premises of the Umbria Region, Associated policy authority. Stakeholders attending included representatives from the Umbria Region, the city of Perugia, the University of Perugia, the Umbrian School of Public Administration, Umbrian offices of national trade associations, the Chamber of Commerce, Europe Direct, the Enterprise Europe Network, the national association of municipalities, as well as from several SMEs.
The process is a collaborative, participatory exercise that facilitates creative thinking, with the goal of stimulating the emergence of fresh solutions and ideas.
The co-creation work will continue in a second meeting to be scheduled soon.